Robert Burton
Rev. Robert Burton (8 February 1577 - 25 January 1640) was an English writer, Anglican clergyman, and academic, best known for the classic, The Anatomy of Melancholy.Robert Burton, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. Web, May 6, 2016. Life Overview Burton was born at Lindley, Leicestershire, and educated at Oxford. He took orders, and became Vicar of St. Thomas, Oxford, in 1616, and Rector of Segrave, Leicestershire, in 1630. Subject to depression of spirits, he wrote as an antidote the singular book which has given him fame. The Anatomy of Melancholy, in which he appears under the name of Democritus Junior, was published in 1621, and had great popularity. In the words of Warton: "The author's variety of learning, his quotations from rare and curious books, his pedantry sparkling with rude wit and shapeless elegance ... have rendered it a repertory of amusement and information." It has also proved a store-house from which later authors have not scrupled to draw without acknowledgment. It was a favorite book of Samuel Johnson. Burton was a mathematician and dabbled in astrology. When not under depression he was an amusing companion, "very merry, facete, and juvenile," and a person of "great honesty, plain dealing, and charity."John William Cousin, "Burton, Robert," A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910, 65. Web, Dec. 22, 2017. Youth and education Little is recorded of Burton's life. He was the 2nd son of Ralph Burton of Lindley in Leicestershire. He tells us in the Anatomy of Melancholy (chapter on "Aire Rectified; with a digression of the Aire," part ii., sect. 2, memb. 3) that his birthplace was Lindley. We learn from his will that he passed some time at the grammar school, Nuneaton; and in the "Digression of the Aire" he mentions that he had been a scholar at the free school of Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire.Bullen, 12. In the long vacation of 1593 he was sent as a commoner to Brasenose College, Oxford, and in 1599 was elected a student of Christ Church, where, "for form sake, tho' he wanted not a tutor," he was placed under the tuition of Dr. John Bancroft. He earned the degree of B.D. in 1614. Hw earned his degrees (a B.A. in 1602), an M.A. in 1605, and a Bachelor of Divinity in 1614) at Christ Church.Rev. Robert Burton (1577-1640), English Poetry, 1579-1830, Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. Web, May 6, 2016. In the long preface, "Democritus to the Reader," which is one of the most interesting parts of his great book, Burton gives us an account of his style of life at Oxford: :I have lived a silent, sedentary, solitary, private life, mihi et musis, in the university, as long almost as Xenocrates in Athens, ad senectam fere, to learn wisdom as he did, penned up most part in my study. For I have been brought up a student in the most flourishing colledge of Europe, Augustisimo Collegio, and can brag with Iovius almost, in ea luce domicilii Vaticani, totius orbis celeberrimi, per 37 annos multa opportunaque didici: for thirty years I have continued (having the use of as good libraries as ever he had) a scholar, and would be, therefore, loth either by living as a drone to be an unprofitable or unworthy a member of so learned and noble a societie, or to write that which should be any way dishonourable to such a royal and ample foundation. He then proceeds to speak of the desultory character of his studies: "I have read many books but to little purpose, for want of good method; I have confusedly tumbled over divers authors in our libraries with small profit for want of art, order, memory, judgment." Career Wood gives the following character of Burton: :He was an exact mathematician, a curious calculator of nativities, a general read scholar, a thorough-paced philologist, and one that understood the surveying of lands well. As he was by many accounted a severe student, a devourer of authors, a melancholy and humorous person, so by others who knew him well a person of great honesty, plain dealing and charity. I have heard some of the antients of Christ Church often say that his company was very merry, facete and juvenile, and no man of his time did surpass him for his ready and dexterous interlarding his common discourses among them with verses from the poets or sentences from classical authors,' On 29 November 1616 he was presented by the dean and chapter of Christ Church to the vicarage of St. Thomas, in the west suburbs of Oxford; and it is recorded that he always gave his parishioners the sacrament in wafers, and that he built the south porch of the church. About 1630 he received from George, Lord Berkeley, the rectory of Segrave in Leicestershire, which, with his Oxford living, he kept "with much ado to his dying day." In 1621 appeared the 1st edition of Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. Later editions, in folio, appeared in 1624, 1628, 1632, 1638, 1651-2, 1660, and 1676. Wood states that the publisher, Henry Cripps, made a fortune by the sale of the Anatomy; and Fuller in his Worthies remarked that "scarce any book of philology in our land hath in so short a time passed so many editions." Burton was continually altering and adding to his treatise. In the preface to the 3rd edition he announced that he intended to make no more changes: "I am now resolved never to put this Treatise out again. Ne quid nimis. I will not hereafter add, alter, or retract; I have done." But when the 4th edition appeared it was found that he had not been able to resist the temptation of making a further revision. The 6th edition was printed from an annotated copy which was handed to the publisher shortly before Burton's death. Bishop Kennet (in his Register and Chronicle, p. 320) says that after writing the 'Anatomy' to suppress his own melancholy, he did but improve it. "In an interval of vapours" he would be extremely cheerful, and then he would fall into such a state of despondency that he could only get relief by going to the bridge-foot at Oxford and hearing the barge-men swear at one another, "at which he would set his hands to his sides and laugh most profusely." Kennet's story recalls a passage about Democritus in Burton's preface: "He lived at last in a garden in the suburbs, wholly betaking himself to his studies and a private life, saving that sometimes he would walk down to the haven and laugh heartily at such variety of ridiculous objects which there he saw." It would appear that when he adopted the title of Democritus Junior, Burton seriously set himself to imitate the eccentricities recorded of the old philosopher. Anecdotes about Burton are very scarce.It is related in Reliquiæ Hearnianæ that one day when Burton was in a book-shop the Earl of Southampton entered and inquired for a copy of the Anatomy of Melancholy; whereupon 'says the bookseller "My lord, if you please I can show you the author." He did so. "Mr. Burton," says the earl, "your servant." "Mr. Southampton," says Mr. Burton, "your servant," and away he went.' Burton died at Christ Church on 25 January 1639-40, at or very near the time that he had foretold some years before by the calculation of his nativity. Wood says there was a report among the students that he had "sent up his soul to heaven thro' a noose about his neck" in order that his calculation might be verified. Writing [[image:burtonsbook.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Frontispiece for the 1638 edition of The Anatomy of Melancholy.]] ''Anatomy of Melancholy'' In 1621 appeared the 1st edition of Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, one of the most fascinating books in literature. The full title is — The Anatomy of Melancholy: What it is; with all the Kindes, Cavses, Symptomes, Prognostickes, and severall Cvres of it; In Three Maine Partitions with their seuerall Sections, Members, and Svbsections. Philosophically, Medicinally, Historically opened and cvt vp. By Democritus Iunior. With a Satyricall Preface conducing to the following Discourse. Macrob. Omne meum, Nihil meum. At Oxford, Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, Anno Dom. 1621, 4to. The treatise was dedicated to George, Lord Berkeley. The 1st edition contains at the end an 'Apologetical Appendix' (not found in later editions), signed "Robert Bvrton," and dated "From my Studie in Christ-Church, Oxon. December 5, 1620." Later editions, in folio, appeared in 1624, 1628, 1632, 1632, 1651–2, 1660, 1676; an edition in 2 volumes 8vo was published in 1800, and again in 1806; and several abridgments of the great work have been published.Bulln, 13. In the 3rd edition (1628) first appeared the famous frontispiece, engraved by C. Le Blond. The sides are illustrated with figures representing the effects of Melancholy from Love, Hypochondriasis, Superstition and Madness. At the top is Democritus, emblematically represented, and at the foot a portrait of the author. In the corners at the top are emblems of Jealousy and Solitude, and in the corners at the bottom are the herbs Borage and Hellebore. In the long preface, "Democritus to the Reader," which is one of the most interesting parts of the book, Burton anticipates the objections of hostile critics who may urge that his time would have been better spent in publishing books of divinity. He saw "no such need" for that class of works, as there existed already more commentaries, treatises, pamphlets, expositions, and sermons than whole teams of oxen could draw. Why did he choose such a subject as melancholy ? "I write of melancholy," is the answer, "by being busy to avoid melancholy." He apologises for the rudeness of his style, on the ground that he could not afford to employ an Amanuensis or assistants. After relating the story of Pancrates (in Lucian), who by magic turned a door-bar into a serving-man, he proceeds in this strain: 'I have no such skill to make new men at my pleasure, or means to hire them, no whistle to call like the master of a ship, and bid them run, &c. I have no such authority; no such benefactors as that, noble Ambrosius was to Origen, allowing him six or seven Amanuenses to write out his Dictats. I must for that cause do my businesse my self, and was therefore enforced, as a Boar doth her whelps, to bring forth this confused lump.' To some slight extent Burton was indebted to A Treatise of Melancholy, by T. Bright, 1586. The Anatomy is divided into 3 partitions, which are subdivided into sections, members, and subsections. Prefixed to each partition is an elaborate synopsis as a sort of index, in humorous imitation of the practice so common in books of scholastic divinity. Part i. deals with the causes and symptoms of melancholy; part ii. with the cure of melancholy; and part iii. with love melancholy and religious melancholy. On every page quotations abound from authors of all ages and countries, classics, fathers of the church, medical writers, poets, historians, scholars, travellers, &c. There is a unique charm in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. There is no keener delight to an appreciative student than to shut himself in his study and be immersed "from morn to noon, from noon to dewy eve," in Burton's far-off world of forgotten lore. Commonplace writers have described the Anatomy as a mere collection of quotations, a piece of patchwork. The description is utterly untrue. On every page is the impress of a singularly deep and original genius. As a humorist Burton bears some resemblance to Sir Thomas Browne; this vein of semi-serious humour is, to his admirers, one of the chief attractions of his style. When he chooses to write smoothly his language is strangely musical. Ferriar in his Illustrations of Sterne showed how Tristram Shandy was permeated with Burton's influence. Charles Lamb was an enthusiastic admirer of the "fantastic old great man," and to some extent modelled his style on the Anatomy. In "Curious Fragments extracted from the Commonplace Book of Robert Burton" (appended to the tragedy of Woodvil, 1802) Lamb imitated with marvellous fidelity Burton's charming mannerisms.Bullen, 14. Milton, as Thomas Warton was the first to point out, gathered hints for "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso" from the verses ("The Author's Abstract of Melancholy") prefixed to the Anatomy. Dr. Johnson said that it was the only book that ever took him out of his bed 2 hours sooner than he intended to rise. The book has continued as a favourite among many 20th and 21st-century authors, such as Anthony Burgess (who said "Most modern books weary me, but Burton never does"), William H. Gass (who wrote the introduction to the 2001 omnibus edition), and Llewelyn Powys (who dubbed it "the greatest work of prose of the greatest period of English prose-writing").Robet Burton (scholar), Wikipedia, December 15, 2017. Web, Dec. 22, 2017. ''Philosophaster'' In 1606 Burton wrote a Latin comedy, which was acted at Christ Church on Shrove Monday, 16 February 1617-18. It was not printed in the author's lifetime, and was long supposed to be irretrievably lost; but 2 manuscript copies had fortunately been preserved. Philosophaster bears a certain resemblance to Tomkis's Albumazar, acted at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1614, and to Ben Jonson's 'Alchemist,' acted in 1610, and published in 1612. In the prologue the author anticipates criticism on this point:— Emendicatum e nupera scena aut quis putet, Sciat quod undecim abhinc annis scripta fuit. Burton's comedy is a witty exposure of the practices of professors in the art of chicanery. The manners of a fraternity of vagabonds are portrayed with considerable humour and skill, and the lyrical portions of the play are written with a light hand. At the end of the volume Mr. Buckley has collected, at the cost of considerable research, all Burton's contributions to various academic collections of Latin verse. Recognition Burton was buried in the north aisle of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and over his grave was erected, at the expense of his brother William Burton, a monument on the upper pillar of the aisle, with his bust in colour; on the right hand above the bust is the calculation of his nativity, and beneath the bust is the epitaph which he composed for himself — :Paucis notus, paucioribus ignotus, hic hacet Democritus Junior, cui vitam dedit et mortem Melancholia. His portrait hangs in the hall of Brasenose College. There is an elegy on Burton in Martin Llewellyn's poems, 1646. Publications Poetry *''Philosophaster: Poemata'' (Latin). 1601 **(edited by W.E. Buckley). Hetfordshire: Stephen Austin, 1862. **(edited by Connie McQuillan). Binghampton, NY: Center for Medieval & Early Renaissance Studies, 1992. Non-fiction *''The Anatomy of Melancholy: What it is; with all the kindes, causes, symptomes, prognostickes, and seuerall cures of it; inn three maine partitions with their seuerall sections, members, and subsections; philosophically, medicinally, historically, opened and cut vp. (by "Democritus Iunior"). Oxford, UK: Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, 1621 **(3 volumes), London: T. McLean, et al, 1824. ''Volume I, Volume II **(edited by A.R. Shilettto; with introduction by Arthur Henry Bullen). (3 volumes), London: George Bell, 1904. Volume II, Volume III **(edited by Holbrook Jackson). (1 volume), London: Dent / New York: Dutton (Everyman's Library), 1932. **(edited by Thomas C. Faulkner, Nicolas K. Kiessling, and Rhonda L. Blair, with introduction by J.B. Bamborough). (3 volumes), Oxford UK: Clarendon Press, 1989 **(edited by Holbrook Jackson; with new introduction by William H. Gass). (1 volume), New York: New York Review of Books, 2001. *''Burton the Anatomist: Being extracts from 'The Anatomy of Melancholy' (edited by Godfrey Charles Frederick Mead). London: Methuen, 1925. Collected editions *''Philosophaster: With an English translation, and minor writings in prose and verse (edited by Paul Jordan-Smith). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1931; London: Humphrey Milford / Oxford University Press, 1931. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Robert Burton 1640, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, May 6, 2016. See also References * Notes External links ;Poems * Robert Burton at PoemHunter ("Author's Abstract") ;Books * ;Audio / video *The BBC's "In Our Time" discusses The Anatomy of Melancholy. ;About *Robert Burton at the Encyclopædia Britannica *[http://www.bartleby.com/65/bu/BurtonRbt.html Entry at the Columbia Encyclopedia] *Review and quotes at Complete-review.com *Rev. Robert Burton (1577-1640) at English Poetry, 1579-1830 *The Anatomy of Melancholy in the Cambridge History of English and American Literature * Burton, Robert (1577-1640 Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Category:Burials at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford Category:16th-century English medical doctors Category:17th-century English medical doctors Category:British non-fiction writers Category:English non-fiction writers Category:British Anglicans Category:English Anglicans Category:Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford Category:People from Leicestershire Category:Church of England clergy Category:17th-century Anglican clergy Category:1577 births Category:1640 deaths Category:People of the Tudor period Category:People of the Stuart period Category:16th-century writers Category:17th-century writers